Winning blow: bishop to g6 (f5·4)
c9-23383naming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Chess960 twist: use the unusual starting setup of the pieces.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1790 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
In Chess960 the pieces start on unfamiliar squares, so tactics appear earlier and from unusual angles. Do not trust classical patterns — read the actual lines of the bishops, the rooks and the queen from where they really stand in this position.
This position hides a concrete tactic that wins material or mates. Start with the most forcing candidate moves — checks, captures and threats — and calculate each to a clear end before choosing; the winning line is usually the one the opponent cannot meet.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king g1, queen h5, rook c1 g3, bishop f5, pawn c2 d2 f2 g2 h4 b7.
Black: king g8, queen d8, rook e3 b8, bishop a8 f8, pawn b4 a6 d6 g6 f7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (28 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Bxg6 Bg7 22. Bxf7+ Kf8 23. fxe3
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to g6 keeps the pressure (+9.2).
- Well found: bishop to f7 (+9.8).
- Precise: pawn to e3 is the top choice (+9.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bg7, then Bxf7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Bxg6 — bishop to g6 (capture)
- Bg7 — bishop to g7
- 22. Bxf7+ — bishop to f7 (capture) with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 23. fxe3 — pawn to e3 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #146.
SP-146 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 807.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #146Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-146
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